AND ON THE CONTINENT.

1G9

A capital of 20s. produces an article A; in order that 15 percent, interest and profit may be realised 3s. must be given fromthe selling price to capital. In 30 years the same capital produces6A; in order to pay 15 per cent, on the production costs of 1A,only Gd. lias to be appropriated to capital. But in conse-quence of tile increased producing power and quantity the rate ofinterest, and therewith the premium for risk, contained in theprofit has fallen. Seven-and-a-half per cent, is sufficient to makecapital seek investment in the industry. There is, therefore, inthe production costs of A only 3d. necessary for interest and profit.

A workman produces daily an article B for a wage of 3s., but in30 years’ time 6 B per day. In order to allow him to earn exactlythe same weekly wage, only 6d. need now' be paid for the produc-tion of B. If the workman 30 years ago was a skilled hand-worker, whose skill the machine has made superfluous, a higherweekly wage is not necessary; under certain circumstances a loweris even possible. On the other' hand, if the occupation 30 yearsago depended already on machinery, and the greater productionhas been attained by improvement and speeding of the machines,there would be more and more valuable capital applied, the labourreplaced by more complicated results of technical skill and naturalscience, and thus the responsibility of the workman tending themachinery would become greater. A better workman is neededfor it, to whom a weekly wage of 24s., instead of 18s., must bepaid. In consequence of this, the piece-wages for B could onlydecline to 8d.

As, with the reduction of the share falling to capital, advancingconditions have come into play, which by the progress of humangenius permanently grant increased dominion over nature, andtherewith the augmenting production-power of capital, thus withthe reduction in the cost of labour, retarding circumstances, thenature of mankind as an organism, by which higher capacity in adefinite direction is only possible if the whole condition of theorganism is raised. The relation of both, therefore, is reversed,in the course of development, in favour of labour. This meansnothing else than that the production costs of a certain article havecertainly gone down, whereas, on the other hand, with the lowerproducing costs relatively more has fallen to labour and less tocapital. The following is an instance. It refers to the same mill,combining spinning with weaving, whose capital in 1 883 repre-